Toy vehicle with wheels each having a first disk with windows and a second disk with indicia alignable with the windows

ABSTRACT

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a toy vehicle. The vehicle includes a vehicle body and at least two wheels. The wheels each include a first disk, and spindle and a second disk. The first disk includes a first disk periphery. The first disk includes first and second windows. The spindle extends through the second disk with the second disk disposed between the first disk and the body. A portion of a second disk periphery extends beyond the first disk periphery. The second disk includes first and second sets of indicia. Rotation of the second disk sequentially aligns various ones of the first set of indicia with the first window and various ones of the second set of indicia with the second window.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application relates to and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/468,448 filed on Mar. 28, 2011 and entitled “TEACHING WHEELS THAT ATTACH TO A TOY VEHICLE” which is wholly incorporated by reference herein.

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to a toy vehicle, and more particularly, to a toy vehicle including wheels with first and second plates with indicia used for learning.

2. Related Art

There are a number of apparatus available for teaching both reading and arithmetic concepts with the use of a wheel that can be turned to manipulate questions and/or answers.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,385 discloses a teaching wheel used as an activity for testing a child's ability in various arithmetic concepts. The wheel consists of a problem disk, an answer disk and a frame. The answer disk has a larger diameter than the problem disk allowing children an opportunity to move either the question or the answer into the correct position. From here the child will know if she has completed the question correctly as the color-coding between question and answer will agree.

Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,059 that describes a method for teaching decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) that involve the use of a wheel apparatus. This apparatus combines three, four or five words depending on the size of the word or syllable structure being taught. It is designed to help children blend sounds across vowel and consonant units of sounds which are each represented on a disk or wheel. Disks are secured to one another and each disk has decreasing periphery thereby permitting the viewing of each disk's periphery in order to match letters across the multiple disks that can be blended together.

There are a number of more simple teaching wheels that are available as free downloads on-line, commercially available in books or made up as a finished product. These particular products provide a question and an answer disk that can be joined with a rivet where the learning equation is made up either on the question disk or on the question disk combined with a component viewed through a window on the answer disk, with the final answer on the answer disk (which is also viewed through a window on the question disk). Although the use of these wheels is an excellent medium for teaching spelling and arithmetic concepts, the standardized shape and game play can become monotonous to the user.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved learning aid utilizing teaching wheel with various indicia.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a toy vehicle. The toy vehicle includes a vehicle body and at least two wheels. Each of the wheels includes a first disk, and spindle and a second disk. The first disk includes a first disk central portion, the first disk defined by a first disk periphery. The first disk includes a first window and a second window. The spindle extends between the first disk central portion and the vehicle body. The second disk includes a second disk central opening. The spindle extends through the second disk central opening with the second disk disposed between the first disk and the vehicle body. The second disk is defined by a second disk periphery. At least a portion of the second disk periphery extends beyond the first disk periphery. The second disk includes a first set of indicia and a second set of indicia. Rotation of the second disk sequentially aligns various ones of the first set of indicia with the first window and various ones of the second set of indicia with the second window.

According to various embodiments, the first set of indicia may be textual and the second set of indicia may be graphical. The first disk may include a first disk first side and an opposing first disk second side. The first disk second side may be disposed towards the second disk, and the first disk further includes first side indicia disposed upon the first disk first side adjacent the first window. The first side indicia may be textual and alignment of various ones of the first set of indicia with the first window aligns with the first side indicia to form a combined textual unit with the first side indicia and the various ones of the first set of indicia. The first disk may further include second side indicia disposed upon the first disk second side adjacent the first window. The first window may be disposed at a first window radius and the second window may be disposed at a second window radius less than the first window radius. The second disk may include a second disk first side and an opposing second disk second side. The second disk second side may be disposed towards the vehicle body, and the first set of indicia and the second set of indicia may be disposed on the second disk first side. The second disk may further include a third set of indicia and a fourth set of indicia both disposed upon the second disk second side. Rotation of the second disk sequentially aligns various ones of the third set of indicia with the first window and various ones of the fourth set of indicia with the second window. The toy vehicle may include four wheels. The first disk may be rotationally fixed relative to the vehicle body. The first and second disks may be removably attached to the vehicle body.

The presently contemplated embodiments will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of a toy vehicle according to an aspect of the invention (with two wheels illustrated in phantom for ease of explanation);

FIG. 2 depicts an exploded perspective view of enlarged central portions of a wheel of the toy vehicle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a first disk and a second disk of a wheel suitable for use with the toy vehicle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the first and second disks of FIG. 3 with indicia of the second disk aligned with windows of the first disk;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a series of 4 embodiments of second disks shown with first and second sides with various sets of indicia; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an embodiment of a wheel with a first disk and a second disk of FIG. 5 with the second disk sequentially rotated relative to the first disk aligning indicia of the second disk with windows of the first disk.

Common reference numerals are used throughout the drawings and the detailed description to indicate the same elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present devices may be developed or utilized. It is to be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention. It is further understood that the use of relational terms such as first, second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one from another entity without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities.

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is depicted a perspective view of a toy vehicle 10 according to an aspect of the invention (with two wheels illustrated in phantom for ease of explanation). According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided the toy vehicle 10. The toy vehicle 10 includes a vehicle body 12 and at least two wheels, such as wheels 14 and 16 (as depicted in phantom for ease of illustration and explanation of the invention). In this embodiment, additional wheels 18 and 20 are provided. The wheel 14 includes a first disk 22 and a second disk 24. The wheel 16 includes a first disk 26 and a second disk 28. The wheel 18 includes a first disk 30 and a second disk 32. The wheel 20 includes a first disk 34 and a second disk 36. The first disk 22 includes a first disk central portion 38. Each of the wheels 14, 16, 18, 20 also includes a spindle. The wheel 14 includes spindle 42. The wheel 16 includes a spindle 44. The wheel 18 includes a spindle 46. In the view of FIG. 1, the spindle of wheel 20 is not viewed.

With reference to the first wheel 14 (as an exemplar of all of the wheels 14, 16, 18, 20), the first disk 22 includes a first disk central portion 38. Referring additionally to FIG. 2, there is depicted an exploded perspective view of enlarged central portions of the wheel 22 of the toy vehicle 10 of FIG. 1. The second disk 24 includes a second disk central opening 40. The spindle 42 extends between the first disk central portion 38 and the vehicle body 12. The spindle 42 extends through the second disk central opening 40 with the second disk 24 disposed between the first disk 22 and the vehicle body 12.

Referring additionally to FIG. 3 there is depicted a plan view of the first disk 22 and the second disk 24 of the wheel 14 suitable for use with the toy vehicle 10 of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the first and second disks 22, 24 of FIG. 3 as aligned. The first disk 22 is defined by a first disk periphery 48. The second disk 24 is defined by a second disk periphery 50. At least a portion of the second disk periphery 50 extends beyond the first disk periphery 48, such as depicted in FIG. 4. The first disk 22 includes a first window 52 and a second window 54. The second disk 24 includes a first set of indicia 56 and a second set of indicia 58. Rotation of the second disk 24 sequentially aligns various ones of the first set of indicia 56 with the first window 52 and various ones of the second set of indicia 58 with the second window 54.

As mentioned above, at least a portion of the second disk periphery 50 extends beyond the first disk periphery 48. In this regard, the second disk 24 for is generally defined by a radius greater than the first disk 22. As used herein the term “periphery” refers to the radial outermost portion of the respective first or second disk 22, 24. As such, the toy vehicle 10 may be placed upon a riding surface with that portion of at least two of the wheels 14, 16, 18 20 making contact with the riding surface being the second disk periphery 50 of each of the wheels 15, 16, 18, 20. A child user playing with the toy vehicle 10 may propel the toy vehicle 10 forward. In so doing the second disk 24 may be caused to rotate. Such rotation changes the viewable area of the second disk as seen through the first and second window 52, 54 of the first disk 22. The first and second sets of indicia 56, 58 that are disposed upon the second disk 22 are particularly positioned so as to align with the first and second window 52, 54. As discussed further below, these indicia may be used as teaching or learning aids.

As mentioned above, the toy vehicle 10 may be placed upon a riding surface with that portion of at least two of the wheels 14, 16, 18 20 making contact with the riding surface being the second disk periphery 50 of each of the wheels 14, 16, 18, 20. A child user playing with the toy vehicle 10 may propel the toy vehicle 10 forward. In so doing the second disk 24 may be caused to rotate. As such, the vehicle body 12 is constructed and attached to the at least two wheels 14, 16, 18, 20 to allow the second disk periphery 50 to be the outermost periphery of the overall toy vehicle 10. In other words, the vehicle body 12 is sized and constructed to avoid being an obstacle or obstruction to allow the second disk periphery 50 of each of the at least two of the second disks 14, 16, 18, 20. Otherwise, the vehicle body 12 may be of any shape or configuration. In the embodiment depicted, the vehicle body 12 of a three dimensional configuration in the shape of an actual four wheeled vehicle. However, other configurations such of a more flat two dimensional configuration is contemplated.

According to various embodiments, the first and second disks 22, 24 may be connected to the spindle 42 and the vehicle body 12 in a variety of arrangements. In an embodiment, the first disk 22 may include a hub 66 disposed at the first disk central portion 38. The hub 66 may be configured to engage the spindle 42. However, prior to such engagement, the second disk 24 be engaged with the hub 66. The hub 66 may have prongs 68 a, b which are used to retain the second disk 24. The second disk 24 may have an inner periphery 70 at the second disk central opening 40. The second disk 24 is positioned with the inner periphery 70 about the hub 66. An inner portion of the hub 66 is then engaged with a distal portion of the spindle 42. This engagement may be removable such as of a press fit nature to allow the first disk 22 to be easily removed from the spindle 42. Further, in the embodiment, with the first disk 22 engaged with the spindle 42, the first disk 22 is configured to be fixed with the spindle 42. In this regard, the second disk 24 is configured to rotate relative to the first disk 22, the spindle 42, and the vehicle body 12. However, the second disk 24 need not be disposed upon the first disk 22 via the hub 66, and may be configured to rotate more directly about the spindle 42. Preferably, though not required, the center of the first and second disks 22, 24 are aligned as depicted. In this regard, the centermost portions of the first and second disks 22, 24 may be aligned with the longitudinal axis of the spindle 42.

It is contemplated that the spindle 42 may be attached to the vehicle body 12 in any configuration. In the embodiment depicted the spindle 42 is integrated with the vehicle body 12. In this regard, the spindle 42 and the vehicle body 12 are formed of the same material, such as an injection molded plastic. The spindle may be a separate component or may be integrated with other components such as either of the first or second disks 22, 24.

As mentioned above, the first disk includes first and second sets of indicia 56, 58. As used here in the term “set” refers to at least two. As used herein the term “indicia” may refer is any graphical elements. For example, indicia may be textual, graphical, numerical, or symbolic. As such, textual may be a letter, letters, alphabetical blocks, words, and word derivative or components of any language. Numerical may be any number or numbers. Symbolic may be of any symbols, including arithmetic symbols. Graphical may refer to any designs, shapes, fills, colors, and fonts.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, the second disk 24 features the first set of indicia 56 (with individual elements denoted 56 a-e) which are textual. The second set of indicia 58 (with individual elements denoted 58 a-e) includes elements 56 a-b and d-e which are graphic and element 56 c is numeric. The first disk 22 includes a first disk first side 60 and an opposing first disk second side 62. In this embodiment, the first disk 22 further includes first side indicia 64 disposed upon the first disk first side 60 adjacent the first window 52. In the embodiment of FIGS. 3-4, the first side indicia 64 is textual and is a letter “s”. The second disk 24 may be oriented with various ones of the first set of indicia 56 positioned adjacent the first window 52. In the orientation of FIG. 4, the indicia 56 a is viewable through the first window 52. The indicia 56 a is textual and are of the letters “un”. The first side indicia 64 may be textual and alignment of various ones of the first set of indicia 56 with the first window 52 aligns with the first side indicia 64 to form a combined textual unit with the first side indicia 64 and the various ones of the first set of indicia 56. As such the combination of the first side indicia 64 and the indicia 56 a forms the textual block “sun”. In this same orientation of FIG. 4, the indicia 58 a is a graphic of the sun. Thus, this embodiment may be used to teach reading and the correlation of words to specific concepts. The second disk 24 may be incrementally rotated such that the indicia 56 b is positioned adjacent the first window 52. The indicia 56 b are the letters “ad”. As such the combination of the first side indicia 64 and the indicia 56 b forms the textual block “sad”. In such an orientation, the indicia 58 b would be viewable through the second window 54. The indicia 58 b is a graphic of an unhappy face and would covey the concept of being sad.

The distal tip of the spindle 42 may be asymmetrical to facilitate an asymmetrical connection with the first disk 22. In this regard, the hub 66 may include an asymmetrical recess that is configured to engage the spindle 42 in a specific angular orientation. By having this asymmetrical connection this ensures a specific orientation of the first disk 22 and the associated first side indicia 64. As such in this embodiment, the first side indicia 64 is textual and is ensured to be oriented in a normal upright position assuming the toy vehicle 10 is on a flat normal plane. In addition, while the spindle 42 includes a male type of connection and the first disk 22 a female connection, other connection types are considered for either or both.

In the embodiment depicted, the toy vehicle 10 includes four wheels 14, 16, 18, 20. However, it is contemplated that just two are required to practice the invention. For example, just a side profile of an automobile may be provided in a more of a 2-D representation, or the vehicle may be a motorcycle, each with just two wheels. It is contemplated that additional wheels may be included as well.

It is contemplated that the first and second disks 22, 24 may be of other shapes than as depicted. In this regard, the first disk periphery 48 and the second disk periphery 50 are smooth and continuous. However, others shapes are contemplated such as to represent tread of a tire for example. It is further contemplated that the first and second windows 52, 54 may be of other shapes than as depicted. In this regard, the first and second windows 52, 54 need only be openings formed in the first disk 22 so as to allow selective portions of the first and second sets of indicia 56, 58 to be viewable respectively through the first and second windows 52, 54. Further, the relative radial positioning of the first and second windows 52, 54 may be of others proportions.

Referring now to FIG. 5 is a plan view of a series of 4 embodiments of second disks 72, 82, 88, 94 with front and back sides depicted. The second disk 72 includes a second disk first side 74 and a second disk second side 76. The first disk first side 74 includes a first set of indicia 78 a-h and a second set of indicia 80 a-h. The second set of indicia 80 a-h associated with multiples of 2 with respect to corresponding specific ones of the first set of indicia 78 a-h and the second set of indicia 80 a-h.

Referring now to FIG. 6 there is a plan view of an embodiment of a wheel 14′ with a first disk 22′ and the second disk 72 with the second disk 72 being sequentially rotated relative to the first disk 22.′ The first disk 22′ includes a first window 100 and a second window 102.

In a first orientation depicted in the upper left of FIG. 6, the indicia 78 a is aligned with the first window 100 the indicia 80 a is aligned with the second window 102. Adjacent the first window 100 is the first side indicia 104. The first side indicia 104 features the number “2” and the multiplication symbol “x.” The indicia 78 a features the number “2.” The combination of the first side indicia 104 and the indicia 78 a resulting in the display of “2×2.” The indicia 80 a represents the number “4.” As such the first window 100 may be considered a “question” window and the second window 102 may be considered an “answer” window as the result of the multiplication of the combination of the first side indicia 104 and the indicia 78 a is the indicia 78 a. The entirety of the indicia may thus be understood to represent a mathematical formula in this example. In a similar fashion, it is understood that the second disk 72 may be rotated so as to align other ones of the first set of indicia 78 and the second set of indicia 80 with the first and second windows 100, 102, as is also depicted in FIG. 5. Though not depicted, the first disk 22′ may also include a cover to mask the first window 100 to allow a child user to first mentally figure out the “answer” before revealing it to further enhance the learning process.

Along with the second disk 72 that features the second sets of indicia associated with multiples of “2” and “3,” it is contemplated that the user substitute out the use of the second disk 72 with the other second disks 72, 82, 88, 94 with each being associated with other multiples. In this regards, the second disk 82 includes a second disk first side 84 and a second disk second side 86. The second disk 88 includes a second disk first side 90 and a second disk second side 92. The second disk 94 includes a second disk first side 96 and a second disk second side 98. The second disk first side 84 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “4.” The second disk second side 86 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “5.” The second disk first side 90 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “6.” The second disk second side 92 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “7.” The second disk first side 96 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “8.” The second disk second side 98 includes a second set of indicia associated with multiples of “9.”

Just as the second disk 72 is “two-sided” and features differing indicia on each side, the first disk 14′ may be two-sided as well (with different indicia on each side).

The particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects. In this regard, no attempt is made to show more details than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosure, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the presently disclosed invention may be embodied in practice. 

1. A toy vehicle comprising: a vehicle body; and at least two wheels, each of the wheels including: a first disk having a first disk central portion, the first disk defined by a first disk periphery, the first disk including a first window and a second window; a spindle extending between the first disk central portion and the vehicle body; and a second disk including a second disk central opening, the spindle extending through the second disk central opening with the second disk disposed between the first disk and the vehicle body, the second disk defined by a second disk periphery, at least a portion of the second disk periphery extending beyond the first disk periphery, the second disk including a first set of indicia and a second set of indicia, rotation of the second disk sequentially aligns various ones of the first set of indicia with the first window and various ones of the second set of indicia with the second window.
 2. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first set of indicia is textual and the second set of indicia is graphical.
 3. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first disk includes a first disk first side and an opposing first disk second side, the first disk second side is disposed towards the second disk, the first disk further includes first side indicia disposed upon the first disk first side adjacent the first window.
 4. The toy vehicle of claim 3 wherein the first side indicia is textual.
 5. The toy vehicle of claim 4 wherein the first set of indicia is textual, alignment of various ones of the first set of indicia with the first window aligns with the first side indicia to form a combined textual unit with the first side indicia and the various ones of the first set of indicia.
 6. The toy vehicle of claim 3 wherein the first disk further includes second side indicia disposed upon the first disk second side adjacent the first window.
 7. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first window is disposed at a first window radius, the second window is disposed at a second window radius less than the first window radius.
 8. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the second disk including a second disk first side and an opposing second disk second side, the second disk second side is disposed towards the vehicle body, the first set of indicia and the second set of indicia are disposed on the second disk first side.
 9. The toy vehicle of claim 8 wherein the second disk further includes a third set of indicia and a fourth set of indicia both disposed upon the second disk second side, rotation of the second disk sequentially aligns various ones of the third set of indicia with the first window and various ones of the fourth set of indicia with the second window.
 10. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the toy vehicle includes four wheels.
 11. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first disk is rotationally fixed relative to the vehicle body.
 12. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first and second disks are removably attached to the vehicle body.
 13. The toy vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first disk is defined by a first disk radius, the second disk is defined by a second disk radius greater than the first disk radius. 